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Toshiba REGZA T-02D smartphone launches in Japan: 'New AMOLED Plus' display, old resolution
Confusingly announced by Fujitsu, the Toshiba Regza T-02D will settle into a wall of similarly bright-colored, good-looking smartphones in NTT DoCoMo stores starting this week. The (Japan-only) phone's 4.3-inch OLED screen holds onto a middling qHD resolution, but Fujitsu says its "new AMOLED Plus technology" will apparently render in higher clarity than any of its preceding smartphone displays -- we'll wait to see it in action before coming to any conclusions. There's no word on who's behind the dual-core 1.5GHz processor, but Xi connectivity (how Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo brands its LTE provision) makes a Qualcomm chipset likely. Fujitsu is also pushing the phone's 'human-centric' Android skin, like what we saw on its own quad-core slab). This involves a collection of UI tweaks to the base Android 4.0 OS, including Intellicolor, where the phone will sense the color of ambient light and tweak the display accordingly. The phone's 13.1-megapixel camera reaches an impressively high ISO level of 25600, running on Sony's back-illuminated Exmor R sensor, while Fujitsu's also channeled the ghost of the original Motorola Atrix, resurrecting a fingerprint unlock sensor. Other features worth mentioning include high-definition NOTTV compatibility, plus certified water and dust resistance. As is expected from the world of Japanese smartphones, there's a selection of colors too -- the T-02D will be available in Pink, Black and Blue from launch. Japan residents wondering exactly which company made the phone can try to get their head around the full release below.
Sharp AQUOS SH-06D arrives from Japan, we go hands-on (video)
Sharp's AQUOS SH-06D will most probably never leave the Land of The Rising Sun. That doesn't stop us, however, from lusting after its 4.5-inch screen. This 720p display also manages 3D, spread across a slinky 10mm frame that houses NTT DoCoMo's recently launched NOTTV streaming broadcast system. The device arrives in pink, white and blue options -- all provided with a matching dock and built-in aerial. Like several eastern phones with the ability to tune into live TV broadcasts, the AQUOS SH-06D also totes its own extendable antenna built into the side. The device itself, despite its largely plastic build, felt solid in our hand, although the minuscule power and volume buttons proved difficult to manipulate at times. The screen technology is still a closely guarded secret, but it aims to bring both 3D functionality alongside a crisp HD display performance during two-dimensional antics. Viewing angles are great -- a welcome trend we've seen on plenty of handsets at this year's MWC -- but the heavily customized Android 2.3 skin took away some of that sheen. Applications are stowed away into several drop-down menus that took some getting used to -- regardless of any language barrier. Sharp hasn't revealed any plans to join its Japanese competitors in the frenzied global smartphone market, but some import options wouldn't go amiss. See why in our hands-on right after the break. Sean Cooper contributed to this report %Gallery-149082%
Aquos SH-06D and Medias Tab N-06D are waterproof, Nottv-ready and official in Japan
NTT DoCoMo has launched two waterproof Android devices in the glare of the rising sun, and interestingly both are compatible with Japan's new "V-High" broadcasting service -- which means they'll receive the much-hyped multimedia Nottv channel once it starts transmitting on April 1st, as well as the usual one-seg transmissions. We already peeped the Sharp Aquos SH-06D in an FCC filing, but now we know a couple more tidbits: namely that there's a 4.5-inch HD glasses-free 3D display on top of a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. The NEC Medias tablet has a similar processor and also sports a seven-inch WXGA HD display, a thickness of less than 10mm (0.4-inches) plus compatibility with DoCoMo's "Xi" LTE service. Not bad for a morning's work.
It's not TV: it's Nottv, Japan's new Smartphone-only TV station
Japanese mobile users hankering after short bursts of original video will soon gain access to Nottv, a platform designed to capitalize on the nation's love of smartphones as well as its now empty analog TV frequencies. The service is different to Japan's other smartphone-TV network, One-Seg, which just relays terrestrial broadcasts to your mobile device -- not least because it lets you share snarky ripostes after watching a clip. It's backed by the country's major channels as well as NTT DoCoMo and it just needs the heavy rubber stamp of governmental approval before you can start hunting down condensed editions of Takeshi's Castle from April 2012.
